Management of an IOV adapter through a virtual intermediary in an IOV management partition
First Claim
1. A method, in a data processing system, for managing input/output (I/O) virtualization, comprising:
- creating one or more client partitions in the data processing system, each client partition having an associated portion of resources of the data processing system;
creating, in the data processing system, an I/O virtualization management partition (IMP), wherein the IMP performs I/O virtualization management operations with an I/O endpoint of the data processing system to thereby manage set of physical functions, comprising one or more physical functions of the I/O endpoint and wherein each client partition in the one or more client partitions is not permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on the set of physical functions but is permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on one or more virtual functions in the I/O endpoint that are associated with the client partition;
creating at least one communication structure for communicating between the IMP and the one or more client partitions; and
performing, by the IMP, the I/O virtualization management operations with the I/O endpoint using the at least one communication structure.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Mechanisms that address the situation where an input/output (I/O) fabric is shared by more than one logical partition (LPAR) and where each LPAR can share with the other LPARs an I/O adapter (IOA) are provided. In particular, each LPAR is assigned its own separate address space to access a virtual function (VF) assigned to it such that each LPAR'"'"'s perception is that it has its own independent IOA. Each VF may be shared across multiple LPARs. Facilities are provided for management of the shared resources of the IOA via a Physical Function (PF) of the IOA by assignment of that PF to an I/O Virtualization Management Partition (IMP). The code running in the IMP acts as a virtual intermediary to the VFs for fully managing the VF error handling, VF reset, and configuration operations. The IMP also acts as an interface to the PF for accessing common VF functionality.
65 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method, in a data processing system, for managing input/output (I/O) virtualization, comprising:
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creating one or more client partitions in the data processing system, each client partition having an associated portion of resources of the data processing system; creating, in the data processing system, an I/O virtualization management partition (IMP), wherein the IMP performs I/O virtualization management operations with an I/O endpoint of the data processing system to thereby manage set of physical functions, comprising one or more physical functions of the I/O endpoint and wherein each client partition in the one or more client partitions is not permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on the set of physical functions but is permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on one or more virtual functions in the I/O endpoint that are associated with the client partition; creating at least one communication structure for communicating between the IMP and the one or more client partitions; and performing, by the IMP, the I/O virtualization management operations with the I/O endpoint using the at least one communication structure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored thereon, wherein the computer readable program, when executed in a data processing system, causes the data processing system to:
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create one or more client partitions in the data processing system, each client partition having an associated portion of resources of the data processing system; create, in the data processing system, an I/O virtualization management partition (IMP), wherein the IMP performs I/O virtualization management operations with an I/O endpoint of the data processing system to thereby manage a set of physical functions, comprising one or more physical functions of the I/O endpoint, and wherein each client partition in the one or more client partitions is not permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on the set of physical functions but is permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on one or more virtual functions in the I/O endpoint that are associated with the client partition; create at least one communication structure for communicating between the IMP and the one or more client partitions; and perform, by the IMP, the I/O virtualization management operations with the I/O endpoint using the at least one communication structure. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A data processing system, comprising:
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one or more client partitions, each client partition having an associated portion of resources of the data processing system; an I/O virtualization management partition (IMP) in communication with the one or more client partitions; I/O endpoint in communication with the IMP, wherein the IMP performs I/O virtualization management operations with an I/O endpoint of the data processing system to thereby manage a set of physical functions, comprising one or more physical functions of the I/O endpoint, and wherein each client partition in the one or more client partitions is not permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on the set of physical functions but is permitted to perform I/O virtualization management operations on one or more virtual functions in the I/O endpoint that are associated with the client partition; and at least one communication structure provided in association with the IMP and the one or more client partitions, wherein the IMP performs the I/O virtualization management operations with the I/O endpoint using the at least one communication structure.
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Specification